Our First Free Women's Self Defence Workshop: Complete!
Last Sunday we had the pleasure of welcoming women from the local community to Gracie Barra Harrogate, to take part in a free women’s self defence seminar. It was important to us to open this up to any woman over the age of 16, as this meant we got to meet women from a huge range of backgrounds and of various ages.
We were delighted to find that every participant was excited to try their hand at self defence, with the goals of increasing their confidence and trying something new.
Practical Self Defence
After a quick explanation of what the session would be covering, the workshop covered situational awareness, distance management, verbal commands and drawing attention - all essential elements in building confidence for self defence situations. Professor Khalil, also a serving police officer, was on hand to reference his experience and bring fantastic insight in such situations.
We then moved into key positions and attacks such as wrist grabs, wall defences, mount escapes, breakfalls (falling safely) and evading a standing attacker whilst being on the ground.
The session was hosted by owner and head instructor Lewis Matthews, alongside fellow instructor Khalil Bostan, and Assistant Coach Hollie Bennett.
Lewis said of the day “The workshop was a great success. It was fantastic to meet new faces who might not have considered Jiu Jitsu or self defence before, and to be able to share this experience with them was a real privilege.”
Next Steps
We hope all those who took part are able to take away some fresh knowledge to feel more confident. Situational awareness is key to many self defence scenarios, and something that can be easily practised day to day. Good situational awareness can often lead to total avoidance of issues and conflict - simply by thinking ahead and being aware, making it a key principle of self defence.
For those wanting to continue their Jiu Jitsu journey and progress further, we’re excited to announce the return of our GBF programme! This is open to all those who attended, as well as the wider community of women in Harrogate. This course, tailored specifically for women, covers self defence scenarios as well as an introduction into fundamental Brazilian Jiu Jitsu over an 8 week course.
Classes take place twice a week on a Monday and Thursday with Coach Jack, before participants can join the unisex GB1 curriculum. For more information and testimonials for the GBF programme, click here, where you’ll also be able to register for the next programme and our taster event, taking place on 24th July at 6:30pm.
